“Design is underpinned by the designer’s ability to not only look, but also to see… The act of observation is not unique to design or design thinking, and design research is not the sole domain of the designer. It is in the seeing, in the sense-making, and in the questioning of what is observed that design sets itself apart.” – Steve Baty
This quote is from Steve’s Interactions Magazine article “Solving complex problems through design.”
“As designers and architects of the future, we have an opportunity to play a powerful role in constructing reality and improving humanity’s experience on this planet. If the focus is only on a short term profit margin or a fad or a shiny new object, it will be an opportunity lost. Design can be reactionary, responding only to current conditions, or it can be visionary, by presenting solutions to problems yet undefined.” – Venessa Miemis
Read more in Venessa’s article “How Can Futures Thinking Amplify Design Thinking?”
“In design one makes-to-think and thinks-to-make. There’s no hard line between wondering about something and making that thing in the machine shop. The two go together without a hard distinction between thinking it up and making it up. In a design studio… the making is also the thinking. We don’t figure everything out and then just build it. Both of these materialization rituals are the same and interweave in a simple, clarifying way.” – Julian Bleecker
This quote is from Kicker Studio’s interview with Julian: “Six Questions from Kicker: Julian Bleecker.“
“Design is really about the way products and services come to life. The companies that build the most enduring relationships with customers often do so by creating an environment where design flourishes. They have leadership that embraces design, executives who trust their gut and their employees as much as they trust all the data they receive abut their business. To really grasp design is to intuit what customers want, often before customers even know what they want it. That’s not something you can learn in a focus group or an online survey.” – Jay Greene
This quote is from Jay’s book “Design Is How It Works: How the Smartest Companies Turn Products into Icons.” It was also quoted in Thomas Lockwood’s book “Design Thinking: Integrating Innovation, Customer Experience, and Brand Value.”
Thanks to Michael Magoolaghan for submitting this quote!
“The thing that excites me most about design is the act of creating a great, tangible solution where there was just a blank whiteboard or list of vague requirements before. When I can look at a solution and think, yes, this solves the problem, it’s elegant, it’s engaging… that’s the reward.” – Kim Goodwin
This quote is from Kim’s interview with Kicker Studio entitled “Six Questions from Kicker: Kim Goodwin.”
“As designers, we think through doing. Design is a reflective practice between the designer and her design materials. When you sketch something and commit it to paper, it moves from being an abstract thought to something that is more concrete and real. Perceiving this concreteness, in turn, influences your thinking, leading to new questions that spawn new ideas… It is the act of creating these design artifacts, rather than the artifacts themselves, that is the most valuable aspect of the design process.” – Dane Petersen
This quote is from Dane’s Adaptive Path blog article “Entering a design project mid-stream? Sometimes, you just paddle.”
Catriona Cornett